


The Blood of the Covenant

by velvetjinx



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Found Family, Knives, M/M, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Retirement, Swearing, thanos never happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29983863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetjinx/pseuds/velvetjinx
Summary: Bucky reluctantly joins Steve’s brunch with Natasha and Sam.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2021





	The Blood of the Covenant

**Author's Note:**

> For square U1 on my Bucky Barnes Bingo card!

“Buck, come on.”

Bucky frowned, shaking his head. “Steve, I know I’m not welcome there.”

“Buck…” Steve let out a heavy sigh. “It’s just Natasha and Sam. They ask why you’re not there every time we meet up for brunch.”

_Meet up for brunch_. The way Steve said it, so comfortably, made Bucky retreat into himself. Meeting up with people for any reason, let alone brunch, hadn’t been high on his agenda for 80 years or so. Steve, of course, noticed. 

“Please?”

He was doing the big eyes, the fucker. 

Bucky heaved a sigh himself. “Fine. But I’m taking my knives.”

“Buck…”

“ _Steve_ ,” Bucky replied, mimicking his exasperated tone. “It’s that or I don’t go. Your choice.”

Steve threw his hands in the air. “Fine! But you do _not_ take them out while we’re eating.”

“I won’t if they don’t,” Bucky muttered. Steve pretended not to hear him. 

***

It wasn’t bad. 

Natasha and Sam had looked surprised to see him—well, Sam had. Natasha had raised an elegant eyebrow. 

“Good to see you, Barnes,” she’d said easily, and that was that. 

Bucky didn’t say much, but watching the others interact, he could see why Steve enjoyed their brunches so much. They were like a little family—weird and dysfunctional, sure, but still. A family. 

Bucky wanted that. 

He started going out with Steve to every brunch, every lunch, every dinner. Now they were both retired, it was Steve’s way of keeping in contact, and even Bucky found himself opening up more as the weeks passed. The first time Sam made Bucky laugh, Steve looked so happy it made Bucky’s heart thump loudly in his chest. 

As they left the diner that day, Natasha slid her right arm through Bucky’s left, ignoring him tensing up. “Walk with me, Barnes,” she said lightly, and Bucky nodded, allowing Steve and Sam to walk ahead. He’d have taken exception to her calling him by his last name, but she did it to Steve and Sam too, so he figured it wasn’t personal. 

They walked in silence for a little while. 

“Glad you finally started coming to brunch with us, Barnes,” Natasha said at length. “We were starting to think that Steve had invented your relationship.”

Bucky let out a bark of laughter at that. Steve glanced back at them and smiled, before turning back to Sam. 

“Nah. He ain’t got the imagination,” he said, winking, and she laughed too. 

“I won’t ask.” She was silent for a moment, before speaking again. “He’s family now, you know? I don’t trust many people, but I trust Steve Rogers.”

“And Sam Wilson?”

She smirked. “And Bucky Barnes, if he’ll let me.”

Bucky hesitated for just a moment, then felt her squeeze at the vibranium of his arm. “Yeah, I guess so.”

She nodded. “Gonna stop bringing those knives to brunch?”

“Nope.”

“Me neither.”

They looked at each other and laughed, and Bucky felt good, really good, about something not-Steve-related for the first time in a long time.


End file.
